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Curtiss P-36C "Hawk"
The Curtiss P-36 "Hawk" or Curtiss Hawk Model 75, was also know by the British as the Mohawk, was a low wing single fighter aircraft. The P-36 enters in service with the 20th Pursuit Group, from the United States Army Air Corps, at Barksdale Field in Louisiana in April 1938. The hawk took the place of the outdated Boeing P-36 "Peashooter" fighters. However, from the day they arrived on the field, the brandnew Curtiss fighter was marred by numerous teething problems. Skin buckling over landing gear, which had to be replaced by heavier sheet metal. Also the aircraft had engine exhaust problems and weaknesses in the fuselage. However, despite all these problems, both the American and British air force, found this aircraft very easy to handle, especially in fast dives. Ny the outbreak of the Second World War, the Americans and British considering the Hawk as an outdated design and by 1941, they were replaced by new and more effective fighters. The Hawk during the Second World War Still, the P-36 saw some action at the beginning of the Second World War. The first P-36's that saw action was already during the outbreak of the war in Europe. During Fall Gelb, the French air-force defend the French sky with the so called Curtiss H75-C1. The H75-C1 variant, a French composition, saw little operational use due to its late delivery and reliability problems with the Wright radial engine. A total of 316 H75s were delivered to France before the German occupation. On September 20, Sergeant André-Armand Legrand, pilot of a H75-C1, was credited of the first Allied air victory of World War II on the Western front with shooting down one German Bf-109E over Oberhern. During 1939–1940, French H75 pilots claimed 230 air-to-air kills and 81 probable victories in H75's against only 29 aircraft lost in aerial combat. While only 12.6% of the French Air Force single-seater fighter force the H75 accounted for almost a third of air-to-air kills during the 1940 Battle of France. Of the 11 French aces of the early part of the war, seven flew H75s. The leading ace of the time was Lieutenant Edmond Marin la Meslée with 15 confirmed and five probable victories in the type. H75-equipped squadrons were evacuated to French North Africa before the Armistice to avoid capture by the Germans. While under the Vichy government, these units clashed with British aircraft over Mers el-Kébir and Dakar. During Operation Torch in North Africa, French H75s fought against U.S. Navy Wildcats, losing 15 aircraft while shooting down seven American aircraft. From late 1942 on, the Allies started re-equipping the formerly Vichy-controlled French H75 units with Warhawks and Airacobra fighters. The first and last American battle in the war with the P-36, was during the attack of Pearl-Harbor. During the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, the only american aerial opposition came from a handful of P-36 Hawks, P-40 "Warhawks" fighters and some SBD "Dauntless" dive bombers stationed in the carrier USS Enterprise. Five P-36's could take off the Enterprise and were credited with shooting down two Japanese Zeros for the loss of one P-36. BF1942 2015-05-31 11-29-41-49.png BF1942 2015-05-31 11-29-50-09.png BF1942 2015-05-31 11-29-53-49.png BF1942 2015-05-31 11-29-59-44.png BF1942 2015-05-31 11-30-10-54.png BF1942 2015-05-31 11-30-31-37.png BF1942 2015-05-31 11-34-59-13.png BF1942 2015-05-31 11-32-05-27.png Curtiss Hawk 75.jpg|Curtiss H-75